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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327293">Hold my hands (Woosan)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/quarantined_lusi/pseuds/quarantined_lusi'>quarantined_lusi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Soulmates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 05:41:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23327293</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/quarantined_lusi/pseuds/quarantined_lusi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In Ananké there are two types of people. The travellers and the hosts. Every traveller has a host soulmate and every host has a traveller soulmate. To find each other, every Sunday, at 8pm, a traveller appears in front of a host’s door. They stay together for a week, and the next Sunday, at 8pm, they have to hold hands to stay together. </p><p>The problem is, San doesn’t want to find his soulmate anymore, he is heartbroken and lost faith in life.<br/>Until Wooyoung knocked at his door.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Ananké and Lachésis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first story, mostly written between 2 and 4am, don't mind the typos please :) </p><p>enjoy,</p><p>Lusi</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In Ananké there are two types of people. The travellers and the hosts. Every traveller has a host soulmate and every host has a traveller soulmate. To find each other, every Sunday, at 8pm, a traveller appears in front of a host’s door. They stay together for a week, and the next Sunday, at 8pm, they have to hold hands to stay together. If they don’t, the traveller will disappear and be sent to another household, a traveller can never come back to the same household.</p><p>After 1 year together, the bond seals and then the two soulmates will never be separated again. If two soulmates loose each other not holding hands on a Sunday, the host would die and the traveller would lose memory, condemned to travel from household to household and never find their half. </p><p>The soulmate process starts at 18 years old and ends at 25. Every 18 child is sent to Ananké and only then they discover if they are a host or a traveller, the hosts are gifted with a house and the travellers are gifted with money; they can’t live without each other. Cell phones are forbidden. Hosts and travellers can only spend 7 years in Ananké, when soulmates seal their bond, they come back to Lachésis, their birth place. Thus, there are two types of people in Lachésis, the soulmate couples and the lost travellers.</p><p>If a half kill themselves, whether it is in Ananké or Lachésis, the other half dies too. Travellers can live together, have children, but most of the time the weight of losing their half is too heavy. San is the son of 2 travellers, his father killed himself when he was 5 and the only thing that keeps his mother Leila alive is her children, San and Byul, five years younger than her brother. San is now 20, he has been in Ananké for two years, and deep inside he knows that he should come back before Byul turns 18 because his mother would kill herself. The problem is, San doesn’t want to find his soulmate anymore, he is heartbroken and lost faith in life. </p><p>Until Wooyoung knocked at his door.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. You can call me Woo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He is watching the sunset, and when the last shade of pink fades in the sky, he sighs. It’s 8:00pm already, there is no need to check his watch, he just knows it.<br/>San is not enthusiastic tonight. In fact, he barely feels something but emptiness. His heart has been locked down for a while now since he lost his boyfriend, Mingi, a year ago. It was a mistake. An irrevocable mistake. And now he’s gone. Forever.</p><p>The weight of regret used to haunt him, yet at one-point San started to let go, and now it seems like the last time he felt something, an emotion, a feeling or even a pain, was ages ago. The yellow passerines stop singing as the night falls, and now the old owl is hooting. It’s time.</p><p>Knock. Knock. </p><p>A delightful boy is standing behind the door. San doesn’t want to open the door, he is so sick of this, every week it’s the same scenario and he refuses to hold hands with anybody but Mingi. As he imagines himself everywhere but there, the door opens. And there he stands, a blond boy, shining in the dark, smiling with all his teeth. </p><p>“Hi honey it’s me! The one you’ve been looking for all your life” says the stranger, trying hard not to laugh to his own joke. He walks a few meters through the doorway but nobody’s here. San panicked. He doesn’t know why but as he heard the door opening, he ran away to the kitchen, and there he is, hidden behind the fridge, trying not to breathe loudly. </p><p>“Hello? Is there anyone here?” the younger boy asks, and he quickly finds an answer. A shadow, on the kitchen’s floor. “Here you are!”, his voice is pure; San can hear his smile through it.</p><p>At this point San has no other option but to show up. He stands up and opens the fridge quickly, pretending to search something in it. He closes the fridge and looks toward the boy. One glance at him. The dark-haired boy tries to act surprised but his lack of enthusiasm betrays him. </p><p>They look at each other. Just few seconds before the guest cut the silence “This. This deserves an Oscar man” busting out laughing. San is not smiling. He looks exhausted and can’t find the strength to talk, the words are stuck inside his mouth while he observes the golden boy facial expressions. </p><p>“I’m Wooyoung” A nice name San thinks. Too bad it will be forgotten in 7 days, just like the 51 others before him. Except for Mingi. Sometimes he can’t seem to remember his face, yet the memory of him is intact, maybe because San imagines tons of scenarios of them together before sleeping, or maybe because of the nightmares he experiences almost every night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Not a good day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You can call me Woo; everybody calls me Woo”</p><p>“I have a bedroom ready for you upstairs, night” and San walks away.</p><p>“Wait! What’s your name?” Wooyoung is confused by the eldest’s behaviour.</p><p>“I won’t tell you my name, I don’t want you to get attached to me, I don’t even remember your name actually.” his voice was low and cold. </p><p>“It’s Jung Wooyoung”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“My name is Jung Woo Young” he repeats slowly with a childish voice. San sighs.</p><p>“I’m hungryyy” </p><p>He is cute. No. He is so annoying. So happily annoying. Whatever. “Make yourself at home” San finally says before leaving the salon for his bedroom downstairs. </p><p>Wooyoung didn’t expect this, how rude this guy is but also how effortlessly pretty he looks. </p><p>He makes dinner for two, singing in the kitchen. San can’t sleep, he looks at the candle, the one he lights every night, reminding him of Mingi’s presence. A small fire to feel less lonely. It was one year ago. Every day he wonders how he is, if he’s finally found his soulmate, if he misses him… Mingi was not his soulmate, they both knew it, yet they loved each other. And for 2 years the boys were happy together, holding hands every week, it became their tradition, they would hold hands and dance every Sunday, when the sun sets. It is always hard to let go of someone you love, San was heartbroken, but he stayed alive, because Mingi was not meant for him and he didn’t want to be like his father.</p><p>Suddenly, Wooyoung enters San’s room. Turning the light on. </p><p>“Gosh, leave me alone !!” San shouts. He hates the light.</p><p>“Oh, sorry you were sleeping! I- I made dinner. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to...”</p><p>“It’s fine” cuts San, and then without knowing why he felt like he had to justify himself “I’m just... it’s not a good day” his voice cracks “leave please”. </p><p>San normally has no problem with being cold, but today is the day he lost Mingi one year ago and he can’t help but feeling a little emotional. The blond boy looks at him, not with pity, but with kindness. But San is too busy looking at the ceiling to notice. “GET OUT” he sobs this time.</p><p>Wooyoung obeys. And for the first time in his life full of happiness he feels his heart breaking into pieces. He feels the sadness of this house, everything looks sad in here, it seems like this boy has been sad all his life. The sky was full of stars and Wooyoung made himself a promise that night: he’ll try his best to make the sad boy smile.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. You know my name</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wooyoung eats alone, observing every decoration of the house, there are no pictures only paintings. He’s so lonely he thinks. He finally falls asleep at 10pm, on the couch because he was too scared to go upstairs alone. </p><p>San struggles with insomnia, he doesn’t remember the last night he has been sleeping well. At midnight he goes silently in the salon, using the candle to light the place, and there he sees, a beautiful blond boy sleeping on the couch. He looks like an angel, San thinks. He finds a duvet and covers the younger boy with it. On the table there are two plates, one full and one empty. San eats the pesto pastas that Wooyoung cooked earlier, silently, and then comes back to his room. </p><p>He is beautiful but I can’t fall for him, I don’t want another person to disappear of my life, he whispers before closing his eyes and finally falling asleep. Not for a while. He wakes up one hour later because of a nightmare. The same nightmare. The one where he sees his man disappearing in front of him because he arrived too late and couldn’t reach his hands. “I’m so sorry, I’m so lame, I’m so sorry Mingi please forgive me, it’s my fault” San was still half asleep, but sobbing in his sleep. </p><p>Wooyoung is not a light sleeper, nonetheless the moans of San woke him up. His heart hurts, it feels like a burnt, and with no hesitation he stands up and reaches San’s room. He doesn’t turn the light on this time, he walks slowly to the bed, trying to find his way in the dark and finally sits down on its edge. </p><p>“I was lost in the forest I swear I would never abandon you, forgive me please come back” San’s eyes are opened, he is looking at Wooyoung, talking to him as if he is Mingi.</p><p>“It’s okay… You’re okay… Look I don’t know what you’ve been going through but you’re okay now” Wooyoung tries. Suddenly San throw himself on Wooyoung, holding him with all his strength “Mingi…You’re back my love” he hugs him tight.</p><p>“No, it’s not Mingi, it’s Woo-” whispers the blond boy, blushing in the dark.</p><p>And hearing these words San wakes up to immediately stand up “WHAT THE FUCK WOOYOUNG”</p><p>Silence [...]</p><p>“So, you know my name now” Wooyoung finally says, trying to smile even though he is scared and quite uncomfortable, he doesn’t like when people scream at him, it makes him cry.</p><p>It took 5 minutes to San to calm down. Sitting on the floor. Wooyoung was now lying on his bed, his heart beating very fast but he is exhausted. What a day.</p><p>“Okay I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have screamed at you like this, I was scared”</p><p>“hm? It’s fine” says the blond boy almost asleep.</p><p>“I’m San. Choi San” </p><p>Too late. Wooyoung already felt asleep. He didn’t hear his name but his heart will never forget it.</p><p>San sighs. He covers Wooyoung with the sheets once again. After watching him a few minutes he leaves the room and falls asleep peacefully on the couch. </p><p>At the other side of the country, Mingi have found his soulmate, and tonight, after one year living together, Yunho and him sealed their bound, finally starting their lifetime together, they are back in Lachésis.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. San and Wooyoung childhoods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>/In Ananke soulmate are key, nothing is more powerful than fatality and destiny/</p><p>San’s past:<br/>
Like every child, San left his family when he was 18, leaving the two women of his life. His mom is a traveller and she lost her soulmate; she can’t remember anything about him nor the way they lost each other, yet her heart knows that he died, and it’s because of her.</p><p>At the age of 27 she met Elias and they had 2 kids together. Elias was a strong man, often joking about how strong he is, but he was suffering and had trouble handling pain. San still remember that Monday night, he was back from school, and when he opened the door, he found Elias’ body lying on the floor. His mother suffered as well but she hided it, she raised her two children with love. She wouldn’t abandon them until they find another person to take care of them. </p><p>San’s only friend was Seonghwa, he was like a big brother to him. Seonghwa has a good heart, he visited San’s every day, helping him with his homework. The dark-haired boy has social anxiety since his father died, he can’t leave his home without panicking, which is why her mother can’t consider abandoning him, despite being in pain. San was home-schooled and only got out once a month for exams. </p><p>For San, a soulmate is a source of pain, there is this voice in his head that keeps saying the same thing “I’ll find my soulmate, and he will abandon me just like my father did”. And when he became a host, he understood that his fate was to die from abandonment, just like his mother’s soulmate.</p><p>Wooyoung’s past:<br/>
Wooyoung had more luck in life. His parents, Franklin and Sunjin are soulmates, they knew they were meant to be from the first look, that’s what they always tell to Wooyoung, how they were bound to happen. Wooyoung is a lonely child, but it doesn’t bother him, he always has had many friends.</p><p>He has 4 best friends, his neighbour Yeosang, they’ve known each other since they were born; his high school classmates Hongjoong and Jongho; and his best friend Yunho, they met in their dance class. Wooyoung likes to travel from house to house, he is always happy to meet new people, and he takes Ananké very seriously as he has always dreamt about finding his soulmate. He deeply wants to take care of someone and make them happy.</p><p>He misses his family and friend of course, but he is not worried, they made a pact. 3 years ago, the night before Hongjoong left Lachésis, the four boys held hands and made a collective promise. They would do all the possible to find their soulmate and come back alive at home. There, they have a project; they want to open a dance school together when they are back.</p><p>[…]</p><p>In Lachésis, there are updates every Sunday, at 8pm, a list of the people who died in Ananké during the week. There are around 150.000 souls in Ananké and 2 million people living in Lachésis. It is an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Nobody knows where Ananké is, the legend says that it is an island floating in the sky.</p>
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